Chapter 2: Nouns and Pronouns – Learn English Grammar

2.1 Nouns: Definition and Types

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

For example:

• Person: teacher, John, doctor
• Place: park, school, London
• Thing: book, chair, apple
• Idea: freedom, love, happiness

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2.1.2 Types of Nouns

1. Common and Proper Nouns

• Common Noun: A general name for a person, place, or thing (not capitalized).
  • Example: city, boy, river
• Proper Noun: A specific name (always capitalized).
  • Example: London, John, Amazon River

2. Concrete and Abstract Nouns

• Concrete Noun: Can be seen, touched, or felt physically.
  • Example: table, dog, water
• Abstract Noun: Represents ideas, feelings, or qualities.
  • Example: honesty, love, bravery

3. Countable and Uncountable Nouns

• Countable Noun: Can be counted.
  • Example: books, cars, apples
• Uncountable Noun: Cannot be counted.
  • Example: water, sugar, air

4. Collective Nouns

• Refers to a group of things or people.
  • Example:
    • A team of players
    • A flock of birds
    • A pack of wolves

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2.1.2 Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular	Plural
cat	cats
baby	babies
leaf	leaves
man	men
mouse	mice

Some irregular plural forms:

• Child → Children
• Tooth → Teeth
• Foot → Feet
• Goose → Geese

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2.1.3 Possessive Nouns

A possessive noun shows ownership or possession.

Singular Possessive	Plural Possessive
The boy’s book	The boys’ books
The cat’s tail	The cats’ tails

• If the noun is singular, add ’s (e.g., John’s car).
• If the noun is plural and ends in “s”, add only ’ (e.g., dogs’ kennel).

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2.2 Pronouns: Definition and Types

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun to avoid repetition.

For example:

• Without pronouns: John loves John’s dog.
• With pronouns: John loves his dog.

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2.2.1 Types of Pronouns

1. Personal Pronouns

Subject Pronouns	Object Pronouns
I	me
You	you
He	him
She	her
It	it
We	us
They	them

Examples:

• I love ice cream. (subject)
• He called me yesterday. (object)

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2. Possessive Pronouns

Shows ownership.

Singular	Plural
mine	ours
yours	yours
his	theirs

Examples:

• This book is mine.
• The blue car is theirs.

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3. Reflexive Pronouns

Used when the subject and object are the same.

• myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Examples:

• I hurt myself.
• She taught herself to play the piano.

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4. Demonstrative Pronouns

Point to specific things.

• this, that, these, those

Examples:

• This is my phone.
• Those are my books.

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5. Relative Pronouns

Used to connect clauses.

• who, whom, whose, which, that

Examples:

• The girl who won the race is my friend.
• I saw a dog that was barking loudly.

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6. Interrogative Pronouns

Used to ask questions.

• who, whom, whose, what, which

Examples:

• Who is calling?
• Which dress do you like?

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7. Indefinite Pronouns

Refer to non-specific things or people.

• someone, anyone, nobody, everything, many, few

Examples:

• Someone is knocking at the door.
• Few people came to the meeting.

Exercises

A. Identify the noun type (Proper, Common, Abstract, Concrete, Collective, Countable, Uncountable):

1. The team won the championship.
2. She has great intelligence.
3. Paris is a beautiful city.
4. There is too much sugar in my tea.
5. I have two apples in my bag.

B. Choose the correct possessive form:

1. This is (John / John’s) book.
2. The (dog / dog’s) tail is wagging.
3. These are the (boys / boys’) bicycles.
4. The (baby / baby’s) toy is missing.
5. The (ladies / ladies’) handbags are on the table.

C. Fill in the blanks with the correct pronoun:

1. (She/Her) loves painting.
2. Give this gift to (they/them).
3. I did it (myself/me).
4. (This/These) is my favorite movie.
5. The man (who/which) called is my uncle.

Answers

A. Identify the noun type:

1. team – Collective noun
2. intelligence – Abstract noun
3. Paris – Proper noun
4. sugar – Uncountable noun
5. apples – Countable noun

B. Correct possessive form:

1. This is John’s book.
2. The dog’s tail is wagging.
3. These are the boys’ bicycles.
4. The baby’s toy is missing.
5. The ladies’ handbags are on the table.

C. Fill in the blanks with the correct pronoun:

1. She loves painting.
2. Give this gift to them.
3. I did it myself.
4. This is my favorite movie.
5. The man who called is my uncle.